Cat owners urged to get their pets chipped

Cat owners in Rugby are being encouraged to keep their pets safe this summer by having their feline friend microchipped.

Cats Protection’s Rugby Branch is supporting National Microchipping Month, which takes place during June and promotes microchipping as part of responsible pet ownership.

Though microchipping is a safe and permanent means of identification which increases the chances of a missing cat being reunited with its owner, nearly half of the UK’s owned cats are not microchipped.

Eva Goodwin, Branch Coordinator said: “I cannot stress how important it is that cats are microchipped. It would give cat owners more peace of mind and enhance our ability to reunite missing cats with their owners.

“Currently when a cat comes into our care, the first thing we do is look for some sort of identification, including scanning for a chip. In a lot of cases there is no microchip so we have to trawl lost and found registers and advertise the cat as missing.

“It’s a very time consuming process with no guarantee that we will ever locate the owner, despite our best efforts. And yet all of these problems could be solved by a tiny chip that is no bigger than a grain of rice.”

Microchipping can be carried out by a vet or suitably trained individual and involves a small data chip being inserted under the cat’s skin between the shoulder blades. The details are then stored on a national database and can be accessed by scanning the animal with a special device.

Most vets and rescue centres will routinely scan all lost cats and can use the information to quickly reunite the missing pet with their owner.

However, it is important for owners to keep their records on the national database up to date – for example, if they move home or change phone number.

For more information about microchipping and the work of Cats Protection, please contact the Rugby Branch on 01788 570010.